Seamus Casey came into the New Jersey Devils training camp hoping to show the higher-ups that he was ready for an NHL opportunity. He was coming into an organization that was different from the one that drafted him. Sunny Mehta had no idea who he was as a player outside of what he had researched about him.
Casey looked pretty good throughout rookie camp and training camp, but unfortunately, his training camp and preseason were cut short. Casey suffered an injury in his last preseason game when he appeared to be skating towards the bench when a New York Rangers player skated into his leg, spinning him around before he fell to the ice.
The hope was that this was just a precaution, but we learned on Friday that it was more than that. The Devils announced that Casey was going to miss considerable time. Eight to ten weeks, in fact, that Casey is going to miss.
This obviously hurts the Utica Comets most, who won their first game of the season on Friday.
There is good news here. Eight to ten weeks is a long time, but it’s not the entire season. The Devils were likely holding their breath that Casey might lose another year of his development. Casey lost most of last season due to injuries, and now a major injury has him out until at least the end of the holiday season.
Seamus Casey might return at the perfect time for the New Jersey Devils
Here’s where there’s some positivity in Casey’s return. Obviously, it’s good news that he isn’t going to be out for the entire season. Getting surgery on your knee right before the season begins officially is never good, but this is at least missing the worst-case scenario.
On top of that, he’s going tp return either right before the New Year or right after it.
At that point, obviously, there might be some injuries beyond Casey. There will also be a long enough evaluation period on Declan Chisholm. If his early returns aren’t great, Casey might be an option to put in the NHL.
Also, Casey returning in December could give him a long enough audition to be an interesting trade candidate if Mehta is looking to add someone special.
The Devils likely want as much time for Casey to showcase he won’t have ill effects of the surgery as possible. If he builds up his hockey endurance for a few weeks before the evaluations truly start, then that’s perfect. If he returns in eight weeks, he would be back in the beginning of December or right after American Thanksgiving. Even ten weeks give the Devils their defensive prospect back in the middle of December.
It’s not exactly what anyone wanted to hear, but we can find the positive in the injury.
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